


Fractured Futures

by DrusillaTheBloody, queerfanwrites



Series: Fractured Futures [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: because we love to be confusing as hell, first chapter for a series of different fics, thasmin if you squint but not really, there will probably be thasmin in later works because we are thasmin trash, wilfred needs a better ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 01:12:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrusillaTheBloody/pseuds/DrusillaTheBloody, https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerfanwrites/pseuds/queerfanwrites
Summary: Wilfred Mott meets the Doctor once more, but she's a little different from how he remembers...This is the original first scene which then took us in several different directions and we couldn't decide which one to write so we wrote them all. Future instalments of the series will build on this first chapter but go in wildly different directions so you're probably likely to find at least one you like!





	Fractured Futures

**Author's Note:**

> So as the summary said, this is the first scene which the rest of the series will build off but each instalment of the series will be its own self-contained story. This scene is written by queerfanwrites, beta'd by DrusillaTheBloody, after a discussion of the way Wilf was left at the end of The End of Time pt.2, and how we both wanted to write an ending which would do him justice.   
> Hope you enjoy, kudos and comments always appreciated! And look out for future works in this series! (there will be quite a few, hopefully!)

Wilfred Mott pulled his scarf tighter around him. There was no snow this year, but the chill in the air made his old bones ache and shiver. It almost made him wish he’d passed up the offer to work the Christmas Eve shift this year. His tiny newspaper stand did little to shield him from the elements, after all. But this was the first Christmas, a whole year since that awful, awful day when the Doctor saved Wilfred’s life at the expense of his own. He couldn’t just sit around the house doing nothing, not with all that blame swimming around inside his head. So, just like every other day, he’d got up and gone out to work, given himself something else to focus on, before he could come home and enjoy Christmas with his family. He shivered again as a particularly strong gust blew around him. The gusting wind groaned and wheezed, threatening to take the piles of newspapers with it. Wilf sighed. A hot cup of tea would be nice, he thought wistfully.

After a minute the groaning stopped and, mercifully, so did the wind. Somewhere in the distance, a door squeaked on its hinges. Wilf peered out of his shelter, trying to find the source of the voices that floated over to him. They were the first people he’d heard in a while after all; not many souls were brave enough to be out and about in this weather. He could do with some company, even if it was only for a few minutes.

“…doesn’t always go where I want, but if she’s landed here there must be something important here!” a woman’s voice rang out across the deserted street. Wilf could just about make out what they were saying now, so they must be coming his way.

“Hang on, but this is just a street in London! Doctor, surely there can’t be anything bad here,” another voice, definitely getting closer, Wilf thought.

“Not necessarily bad, Yaz. Just… important. And anyway, important stuff happens all the time in places you wouldn’t expect!” the first woman replied. “Oh, newspaper stand. Let’s find out what day it is.” Wilf was beginning to think these two were a bit strange.

Wilf’s suspicions were confirmed when he saw what the first lady was wearing. Cropped blue trousers with yellow suspenders, a rainbow stripe across her top and a long grey coat which was being whipped around by the wind. She picked up the nearest newspaper and glanced at it before turning to her friend.

“Christmas Eve, 2010,” she announced.

“What’s so special about Christmas eve 2010, then? Other than it being the time 11-year-old me got upset because most of my friends were celebrating Christmas, but my family weren’t.” the second woman asked. She was younger than her friend and dressed much more appropriately in a thick winter jacket, gloves and a rainbow scarf which matched her friend’s top. Maybe not just friends, then, Wilf wondered.

“No idea. But I’ve got a bit of a track record with near misses at Christmas,” came her reply.

Wilf decided it was time to interrupt the odd conversation, if only to stop the woman from leaving without paying for her newspaper. “Er, that’ll be £1.30, if you’re keeping it, please ma’am.”

Both women startled.

“Sorry, of course,” the younger woman moved forward, fishing some change out of her pocket. Wilf looked back at the other woman as he accepted the payment to find her staring at him, pale as a sheet.

“Your friend alright there? Looks like she’s seen a ghost,” he said.

The girl looked back, concerned. “Doctor? You alright?”

Wilf fumbled with the coins he was putting away. Doctor? Surely not… he thought. His doctor had been a man, to start. This woman couldn’t be him.

Yet she was still staring. Her gaze felt like it was penetrating deep into his soul, as if she already knew everything about him despite neither of them saying a word. That gaze held history, years far beyond her youthful face, and the grief that comes with old age and outliving all those closest to you. Something Wilf had begun to understand himself.

“Doctor…?” Wilf whispered tentatively. “Not… Not my Doctor?” A beat of silence met his question.

Finally, the Doctor smiled. It was a broken, watery smile but a smile, nonetheless. “Hi, Wilf. Fancy seeing you here.”

Wilf fumbled with the bolt on the little cabin door, quietly cursing his cold, shaking hands. He opened the door and took a few steps towards the Doctor, but pulled up short, unable to comprehend what had just been revealed.

“But… You can’t be him! No way, I don’t believe it.” Wilf stuttered stubbornly.

“We met on this very spot four years ago. Your granddaughter was my best mate. You helped me defeat the Master and save the world exactly one year ago today, although it’s been a lot longer than that for me.” The Doctor smiled tentatively. “Do you believe me now?”

Wilf was speechless. He was vaguely aware that he was doing a great impression of a fish out of water, but his mind was focused on fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together. Then again, if this really was the Doctor, the same impossible man that he knew, then he would probably never find all the pieces. He should probably stop trying before he made a fool of himself.

“Y-You’ve changed quite a bit since then, eh?” He finally said, still not quite believing, but willing to accept one more impossible thing about the Doctor.

The Doctor chuckled, “A few times since then, I think.”

“That’s that regeneration thing you said you was gonna do, I’m guessing.” She nodded. “Blimey, you weren’t kidding then.”

It was at this point that the Doctor’s friend decided to chime in. “Um, sorry, but did you say you were mates with his granddaughter? Do you befriend all your mates’ grandparents then?”

“Oi, I choose my mates very carefully. It just so happens that some of them are related in some way…” The Doctor defended lamely. “Oh, where are my manners? Wilf, this is Yasmin Khan, she travels with me like Donna did. Yaz, meet Wilfred Mott.”

The girl, Yaz, smiled sweetly and held out a hand for Wilf to shake. “Nice to meet you, Wilfred. Not met any of the Doctor’s old friends, can’t help but be a little curious.”

“How about we get out of the cold? You look like you could need a cuppa, Wilf.”


End file.
